Prescribing Specialty Medications Should Be Easy. And Now, It Is.

In my work developing new health IT products, I often hear stories about patients who go to the doctor and receive a devastating diagnosis. The story may start out simply enough, with a patient suffering from terrible headaches. But instead of being told they are dehydrated, suffering from a vitamin deficiency, or a lack of sleep, they get the news that they have cancer.

While no one wants to hear that diagnosis, treatments have come a long way and, with the right mix of care and specialty medications, the patient’s prognosis may be quite good.

But, until recently, specialty medications often meant patients had to wait an excruciating amount of time — sometimes two weeks or more — to start their therapy. The dizzying exchange of paper forms, faxes and phone calls between physician practices, health plans, specialty hubs, pharmacies, and patients has been overwhelming, and potentially life-threatening when treatment is delayed or missed altogether.

With the launch of our new Specialty Patient Enrollment service, we are automating the specialty prescribing process and speeding up time to therapy, so patients can start feeling better, sooner.

Specialty Patient Enrollment improves efficiency for healthcare professionals who are caring for patients with serious and complex illnesses. With the electronic enrollment form integrated into their EHR software, prescribers can remain in their e-prescribing workflow to submit the enrollment form, then leverage our other solutions, like Real-Time Prescription Benefit to view prescription costs, and Electronic Prior Authorization to obtain necessary approvals.

And by replacing a manual process on the receiving end with an electronic workflow that provides specialty pharmacies more complete information from prescribers, we’re freeing them up to focus on their patients rather than paperwork.

At Surescripts, we’ve been working tirelessly for the past few years to bring this new innovation to market, and I couldn’t be prouder of the impact we’re already having.

Visit our website or read the news release to learn more about Surescripts Specialty Patient Enrollment and how it benefits EHR vendors, prescribers, specialty hub organizations, and pharmacies.